And from NYTimes on December 26, 2009: “Mr. Abdulmutallab was issued a regular visitor’s visa by the United States Embassy in London in June 2008, the administration official said. There was no ‘derogatory information available’ on him at the time he applied, and he was granted a two-year visa, which is still valid, the official said. He had traveled to the United States once before, to Houston in August 2008.”

The HD’s license plates when the Mexican and American governments summoned him back to Arizona where he dealt with pressing immigration issues. He had to drive with multiple passports (in addition to having a driver’s license)!

He’s the guy who walked across Afghanistan in late 2001, diplomated (verb) in Iraq in August 2003, taught at Harvard, and successfully ran for Parliament all before reaching his Bartolo Colón year (the age of 40). Apparently, while he was campaigning up in Penrith and The Border (his constituency) in the run up to the May 6 election, he was still grading his students’ papers from Harvard.

“Not only is there a new job in academia but also the movies. Hollywood has started to speak Stewart’s name and after Brad Pitt bought the rights to his life, Orlando Bloom is due to portray the young ‘adventurer’. Jokingly he says he’d really like Judi Dench to play him.”

Brad Pitt once tried to buy the rights to the HD’s life, but the HD’s agent doesn’t answer calls unless interested parties are offering at least eight digit figures.

Tonight’s “lecture” brought out a star-studded cast of scholarly travelers and last Goliaths to the New Academic Building on the London School of Economics’ campus. Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s son extolled the virtues of Libyan democracy and even argued that Libya was the most democratic country in the world (in theory)! The HD has eaten cake that was richer than that.

However, the real action was outside (and inside before the talk) the lecture hall where brawling and constant shouting matches took place. Now the HD loves a festive argument as much as the next guy, but apparently a 57 year old man was roughed up outside during the talk. A close friend and colleague, the Ayatollah Grahambini, witnessed and recapped with this picture and these tweets here, here, and here.

In addition, via portable surveillance and tracking device (mobile phone), the HD received another eyewitness account from a most trusted source: “There are about 4 police vans and 12 police cars and at least two dozen officers outside the NAB…. Never seen so much security here. There’s only bout 9 protesters!”

Shocking times. But, if you are interested in democracy in the Middle East, the HD encourages you to read the best piece on the subject by the Doctor of Democracy himself, Professor Larry Diamond of Stanford University.

Coincidentally, the HD shared the same facial expression as the Colonel throughout much of his kid’s lecture. Anyway, be sure to check the event link in a few days time for the full audio/video as “podcasts are normally available 1-2 working days after the event”. However, for some reason the HD is willing to predict that either the LSE will not “receive permission from the speaker to do this” or there will be “technical problems with the recording of the event”.